The Supreme Court issued a brief order today vacating the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that photos said to depict abuse of detainees must be disclosed. The high court remanded the case (Dept. of Defense v. ACLU) to the appellate court to reconsider its ruling in light of the Lieberman/Graham amendment in the 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act. Lieberman/Graham empowers the Secretary of Defense to issue a certification preventing the release of photographs that “would endanger citizens of the United States, members of the United States Armed Forces, or employees of the United States Government deployed outside of the United States.” Secretary Gates has invoked his authority under this statute to bar release of the photos.

Hopefully, this brings down the curtain on a shameful episode, which I’ve detailed here and here (and for my theory about why DOJ has been so anxious to disclose all manner of classified information related to Bush-era counterterrorism, see here). Jen Rubin has thoughts at Contentions. As she notes, Senators Lieberman and Graham have issued a statement praising the ruling. The senators thank President Obama for working with Congress on this provision. They are being polite: Under the Freedom of Information Act, Obama could have issued an order at any time that would have protected the photos from disclosure. Doing so would have angered the Left, so he sat on his hands, waiting for Congress or the Supreme Court to act. Not exactly profiles in courage.